Frightful Housing Forecast

The way CNBC ran this video piece, it’s hard to say whether the family in this piece are the good guys or not. They admit falling behind in payments but also claim they have made $100,000 in back payments and are caught up in payments. The servicer says they’re still $40,000 behind. One of the things attorneys learn in the Bankruptcy Boot Camp is that the mortgage servicers don’t always account for the payments properly according to Fannie Mae guidelines. Add in lots of bogus fees by the servicer and it’s not hard to imagine that the family is caught up in payments but are being thrown out of their house due to improper fees charged by the servicer. Once a homeowner falls behind, the impoper fees tacked on get easily number in the thousands of dollars.

I didn’t think it was the best choice of video to lead into a discussion about the foreclosure crisis for which they interview Bankruptcy Boot Camp graduate, April Charney.